Minna Häkkinen
Minna Häkkinen is a Finnish politician, diplomat, and economist who is currently serving as UN Special Envoy for Election Monitoring. Prior to this, she served as the Head of the International Monetary Fund from 2015 to 2017, and the Prime Minister of Finland until 2015. Minna is first introduced in Season 2 as the Prime Minister of Finland, hosting U.S. Vice President Selina Meyer during her trip to Finland. During the trip, Selina and Minna experience several misunderstandings and miscommunications between the two of them due to the differences in culture between Finns and Americans. Minna makes a one-episode-appearance for each remaining season, with the exception of the fourth. Recently, she was appointed UN Special Envoy for Election Monitoring prior to Season 6, and meets Selina again when they both supervise the 2018 Georgian presidential election. Background Personal Minna is married to Osmo Häkkinen, and has one son, Otto. She has a difficult relationship with her husband, with the two seeming to only stay together for the sake of her career. By Season 6, it appears her and Osmo have split up, as she admits to being in a sexual relationship with Nikolai Genidze. Her son attempted to commit suicide by weighting his boots and jumping into an ice hole, and now no longer speaks to her. She has shown fluency in Finnish, English and Mandarin, and, as a Finn, also likely speaks Swedish. Professional Minna was elected as the Prime Minister of Finland sometime before Season 2. By Season 3, Minna had left office as Prime Minister but had since been elected Head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), noting that Selina Meyer did not vote for her. Sometime before Season 6, Minna had been appointed UN Special Envoy for Election Monitoring, tasked with supervising elections in developing countries. In political circles she is known as "The Finnish Wolf", which is also the title of her book. Season 2 Minna is first introduced in the episode Helsinki. As the Prime Minister of Finland, she hosts U.S. Vice President Selina Meyer during her visit to Finland to sign a trade agreement in the midst of a controversy regarding Selina's offensive remarks about Europe in the previous episode The Vic Allen Dinner. Minna and Selina have continuous awkward encounters with each other, due to Minna's often blunt and literal translations of English and the vastly differing senses of humor between Finns and Americans. Unlike in some subsequent appearances, Minna interacts with Selina in a frank and professional manner, while Selina makes attempts at jokes that often go over Minna's head. Minna's attempts at humor appear to go unappreciated by the American delegation, such as making a dull pun out of Dan Egan's name. Despite this awkwardness, Minna appears to be civil towards Selina, laughing off an undesirable diplomatic present from Selina after Selina confuses Minna's love of eating fish for a love of the act of fishing. During Selina's trip to Finland, she is introduced to Minna's husband Osmo Häkkinen. While they initially appear to get along, Osmo gropes Selina's breast in private. While it appears Minna does not find out about this interaction, Selina and her team (specifically Gary Walsh) respond angrily. Season 3 In the episode Detroit, Minna appears at EmployCon as the keynote speaker, due to deliver a talk on economics and promote her new book The Finnish Wolf. She has since left office as Prime Minister of Finland, but was elected Head of the International Montetary Fund (IMF), although notes that Selina did not vote for her. She later speaks with Jonah Ryan (mistakenly believing he is still part of Selina's entourage) and tells him that Selina criticised the Second Amendment during a conversation about the death of Emily Lafuente. Jonah immediately contacts his boss George Maddox to tell him, as such a comment could cause Selina to drop in the polls. Minna later apologizes to Selina after realizing that she was the one who accidentally leaked her comment regarding gun rights. Minna later pressures Selina to make her announcement about the 7000 new jobs in Turville Industries, despite Meyer having been informed beforehand by Andrew Meyer that the company is due to go bust in 6 months. However, this information was not passed on to Minna before the discussion. Minna takes it upon herself to make the announcement anyways despite Selina's reluctance. Season 5 In the episode Camp David, Minna is brought to Camp David to act as a mediator and translator between the Chinese delegation and Selina at the request of the Chinese. She gives Selina tips on how to negotiate with the Chinese, but is frequently left alone by Selina, who is attempting to balance her work and family at the same time, without either knowing the other is present. While on a walk with the Chinese, Minna sees whom she believes is Selina kissing Catherine. However, this is actually Marjorie dressed in a silk robe given to Selina by the Chinese, due to Catherine mistakenly believing that it was Selina's gift for Marjorie. When Selina inadvertently uses Minna's negotiation tips and storms out of a meeting, Minna chases after her to explain the Chinese's excitement over the way she handled their meeting. While doing this, Minna accidentally reveals to Catherine that Selina had invited a foreign delegation during what was supposed to be their family getaway, and that she had regifted Catherine's gift to her to the Chinese. Following their meeting, Minna reveals to Selina that the Chinese are in a poor economic situation due to the sanctions that had been imposed on them in the earlier episode The Eagle, and that if Selina would agree to support them with industrial metals they'd consider opening talks to free Tibet. Season 6 Minna appears in the episode Georgia, where she is now working as the UN Special Envoy for Election Monitoring. She has an even more positive view of Selina, despite the fact the two have only met a handful of times, calling her her "best friend". It becomes obvious she despises the incumbent Georgian President Murman Shalikashvili, who insults her by commenting on the ineffectiveness of the UN regarding a genocide in the Congo. In a car journey, she tells Selina that her son attempted suicide by plunging himself into an ice hole, and now won't speak to her. She and Selina Meyer attend a meeting in the home of pro-reform candidate Nikolai Genidze, who Minna and the US are supporting in his campaign to win the Georgian elections. Nevertheless, it is revealed that the two are actually lovers. On the day of the election, where it appears significant electoral fraud is being committed, Minna organises a press conference with the International Electoral Commission where she plans to announce they believe the election has been undemocratic. However, having been promised a $20 million "donation" from President Shalikashvili, Selina attempts to dissuade her. Meyer questions Minna's judgement and lack of bias, especially considering her relationship with Nikolai. Taken aback, Minna agrees and says she will recuse herself, and thanks Selina for mentioning the conflict of interest. She is last seen hugging an uncomfortable Selina as the election unfolds on television. Season 7 While in Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Summit Award, Selina meets with Minna and hopes that she can arrange a meeting with Chinese President Lu Chi-Jang. In an attempt to dissuade her from talking with Lu, Keith Quinn confronts Selina and threatens to expose the fact that her administration was responsible for a drone strike that killed innocent wedding goers whilst targeting a terrorist, which also violated the sovereignty of Pakistan and thus constitutes a war crime. Afterwards, Selina and Minna meet up and Selina inadvertently reveals information about the drone strike. Selina tries to play it off as American slang, but Minna is shocked and quickly reports Selina to Interpol. After leaving the ceremony, Selina is informed by Kent Davison that due to Minna's call the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for her arrest, forcing her, Davidson and Ben Cafferty to seek refuge at the Finnish Embassy to escape the Norwegian National Police. Upon entry, Minna appears to regret her actions, not realising it would result in Selina being arrested so soon. She is called an "autistic Barbie" by Selina. As a representative of the Finnish Ambassador, she grants Selina asylum to prevent her from being arrested , and appears excited they will be able to share a bedroom together at the embassy. The following day, Minna tries to get Selina used to the formalities and procedure of living in the embassy, such as labelling food and washing up after oneself, which Selina does not react well to. Later that day, she, Ben Cafferty and Kent Davison are able to escape the embassy and police via a clandestine network of underground tunnels under the Finnish embassy, originally constructed during the Second World War to assist Nazi occupation forces. She enlists the help of Georgian President Murman Shalikashvili, whose embassy is in the same neighbourhood and connected to the tunnel system. Appearances * Helsinki * Detroit * Camp David *Georgia *Oslo Category:Characters Category:Minor characters Category:Foreign Leaders Category:Season 2 Characters